Now and again an album lands that makes you wonder about the minds of the musicians that recorded it; Our Hallow, the second album from Georgia’s Malevich is such an album. It is dark, disturbing and as brutal as a brick to the face. What makes music heavy is very subjective of course and varies from listener to listener. However you slice it though, Our Hollow is a ridiculously heavy slab of violently melded noise. Malevich sit contentedly at the centre of a disgusting Venn diagram of black metal, death metal, grind and sludge creating a multifaceted psychotic creature of a record. With nine tracks and at just over 39 minutes long Our Hollow shifts and warps, sometimes throwing itself into a full blitzkrieg attack and at others moving into a slow, methodical pounding. Regardless of pace, each second of music is here for maximum impact.
It’s claustrophobic and suffocating, like drowning in boiling tar that slowly envelops you. The sheer weight of the music that hits you is in every sense breathtaking. The band have that rare skill of pushing their music to the point of collapse but not taking it over the edge, controlling the chaos and pushing the urgency. The musicianship is first class and if they can pull this off live they are truly a force to be reckoned with. Combining this with three vocals gives the whole experience a heart stopping intensity that feels like you have wallowed in the bands psyche for an uncomfortable length of time. However, the overall effect of the record is one of extreme catharsis. It is like meeting the creatures that lurk in the depths of your brain and once you have given them shape you know how to deal with them. Our Hollow is truly a remarkable album.
Our Hollow is out 25th October via Sludgelord Records and can be purchased here.
Words: Nathan Tyler
